Born in 1962, Dale Alward earned his B.F.A. in sculpture, video, and film production from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, in 1984. While working on his degree at R.I.S.D., Alward also studied semiotics at Brown University, and glass techniques at Ohio State University. Alward's work has been exhibited at several art centers, including the Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C., the Montpelier Cultural Arts Center, Maryland, and Strathmore Hall Arts Center, Rockville, Maryland. In his work Alward sets up visual comparisons between completed images and preparatory sketches, between finished areas of painting and raw materials. Through these juxtapositions, he asks the viewer to participate in the manipulation of the subject matter and to mediate on the process of image-making.
*Excerpted from Tools as Art: The Hechinger Collection, published by Harry N. Abrams Inc.